Partou Playdays Day Nursery & Pre-School

Playdays Nursery Blackrod Old Grammar School, Blackrod, BOLTON, Lancashire, BL6 5EQ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 15/10/2013 21/02/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 1 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 The nursery places a very high priority on the safety of children through its practical security measures and staff demonstrate highly comprehensive knowledge of how to manage any concerns about children's welfare.  The nursery provides excellent opportunities to develop children's communication, social and physical skills through first-hand learning experiences, in all areas of learning and for all ages of children. Most opportunities are taken to enhance children's independence skills.  Inspirational use is made of outdoor play and off-site outdoor activities in order to develop all areas of children's learning. Planning, observation and assessment of children's progress is highly detailed, to support their further learning.  The management team demonstrates excellent leadership and vision, resulting in a vibrant and inspiring learning environment, which supports the children and staff to give their very best.

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This provision is outstanding

 The nursery has a thoroughly embedded ethos of striving for continuous improvement in its provision for children's care and learning. There is a very strong culture of encouraging staff to enhance their knowledge, qualifications and skills.  Parents receive highly comprehensive information about their children's progress and care, along with information about the nursery's upcoming events. Many parents contribute information to enrich the planning for their child's learning so that staff add further precision to their child's educational programme.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector carried out observations of childcare staff and their interactions with children throughout the day.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the owner and manager and spoke with staff, children and parents at appropriate times during the inspection.  A joint observation was completed by the inspector and the manager.

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Information about the setting

Playdays Nursery is a limited company which registered in 2004 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery is situated in Blackrod, Bolton, within a former grammar school building. Facilities for children are set over two floors, comprising two rooms on the first floor and three rooms on the ground floor. There are two enclosed areas for children's outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open from 7am to 6pm from Monday to Friday, all year round, apart from Christmas. The wraparound care for school-age children operates from 7.30am to 9am and from 3.15pm to 6pm. A mini-bus is used to collect children from some local schools. Care for school-age children is also available in school holidays, from 7.30am until 6pm.

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Information about the setting

There is 25 childcare staff, of whom; 18 hold early years qualifications at level 3. Two staff have achieved Early Years Professional Status and one is working towards Early Years Teacher Status, having gained an honours degree in a relevant subject. One member of staff is qualified Forest School practitioners. One of the owners is a qualified chef and there also is an assistant cook. Four other staff are employed part-time for site maintenance and cleaning. There are currently 203 children on roll and of these; 132 children are within the early years age range. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is a member of the National Day Nurseries Association and has achieved the national 'Quality Counts' accreditation award. Support and advice is provided by the local authority early years quality and inclusion team.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 consider extending the excellent opportunities for developing independence and a sense of responsibility for children in the pre-school room by even greater use of mealtimes for this aspect of learning.

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who attend

All children make excellent progress in their learning as staff have an exceptional knowledge of what helps individual children to learn. Staff make plans for inclusive activities based on their observations of what children can do. They use children's interests to help motivate them in their learning and combine this with information from parents to supplement the individual planning. Staff plan activities across all areas of learning, which they adapt in order to precisely match them to individual children's ages, stages and resulting needs. Observations are made frequently on children's learning and these are compared to expected developmental norms for children's ages. Highly comprehensive assessments are made of children's learning, through tracking their progress in detail. This includes when children join the nursery and when they change rooms, so their progress can be clearly followed over defined periods of time. This enables

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who attend

staff to see if progress is as expected, above or below for their age and stage. As a result, staff can address any gaps in learning that may emerge, so that early intervention can prevent greater future difficulties. Parents are often involved directly with assessment of their children's learning, which supports a much broader view when ascertaining progress. The quality manager provides highly robust support for staff when planning and offers guidance at all the weekly planning meetings to enhance the plans prepared. This means that children are provided with a superb, rich and varied weekly programme to promote their learning. Consequently, all children are exceptionally well prepared for their next steps in learning, including full-time school, whatever their needs.

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who attend

Staff very enthusiastically support children playing outdoors in the 'mud kitchen' in their imaginary play about making cakes. They ask children questions to stimulate answers in full sentences and suggest extra resources to extend their play. This provides excellent opportunities for children to develop their communication and language, as well as cooperative skills. Children mix mud and water and explore how altering the amounts of these changes the consistency of the mixture. They talk to staff about this and become absorbed by making runny or thick pastes from it. This also supports their burgeoning early scientific education about how varying different factors can achieve different effects. Staff teaching is highly effective, for example, they help children to explore the allotment area to look for mini-beasts, equipping each child with a magnifying glass so that they can search in the plants and soil independently. They ask children questions about the colour

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who attend

and number of spots found on ladybirds, as part of reinforcing their rapidly developing early knowledge of number. They also help children to pull up and chop remaining vegetables, such as onions, from the summer planting and help them to sustain pretend play about how they are making food for their family. This also further develops children's excellent language and communication skills. The outdoor construction area offers outstanding opportunities for children to play cooperatively, for example, by using a simple rope and pulley system to haul up buckets of sand together. The playhouse is part- built with a window frame and children pretend to be continuing the build with real-size foam bricks and 'mortar' made from sand and mud. This highly innovative approach helps to develop their experiences of problem solving as they learn how to stack the bricks so they are stable. Staff equip the area with pens and clipboards, so that children can begin

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who attend

to make marks and assign meaning to them, as part of development in early literacy. They also add other resources, such as tin mugs to provide further stimulus for exciting role play, such as playing at tea-break time. The provision of safety hats in the construction area supports children's very effective learning about risks through learning about why these are worn to keep people safe in some working environments.

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who attend

Indoors, staff show excellent skills to maintain children's concentration during group times, such as circle time. They develop children's sense of wonder using a doll that is asleep and as children pass it carefully round the circle, the toy gradually unfurls. This helps children to learn about how they should respect real living things and also develops their empathy by encouraging them to think about how a baby animal should be treated and handled. The use of the toy in the activity also encourages children to ask questions such as 'What is the baby having for lunch?'. Staff pretend to listen to it whispering to them before answering. They also use the opportunity to teach children to problem solve when they wonder where the best place is for the doll to sit so it can see them have lunch. Overall, the activity provides an excellent learning opportunity for developing children's thinking and communication skills. Pre-school children are also encouraged to talk about their

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who attend

morning's play, in order to further develop their thinking and recall. They are supremely confident to offer their views when staff ask them questions about characters in their pre- lunch story, demonstrating excellent understanding and listening.

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who attend

Babies learn about how objects can be hidden out of sight but still present, by staff hiding conkers in sand for them and then uncovering them. They explore the different textures of smooth and shiny conkers, along with the gritty sand and staff model language to support babies' learning of single words. This also provides an excellent opportunity for babies to learn to share an activity with others and to improve their fine manipulative skills by handling different materials.

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who attend

Parents have many excellent opportunities to engage directly with their children's learning, such as pre-school children taking home books to help them with the early learning of letters and sounds. Many parents make a direct contribution to planning and assessment for their child's learning, so that these draw on a broader range of sources than key person observations alone. This helps to make planning more precise and individualised for each child; consequently, their needs are met extremely well. The nursery has been highly pro-active in its efforts to build partnerships with the local primary schools. This is in order to evaluate and tailor the information they provide to schools when children move to full-time education. Consequently, continuity of learning is superb because the schools receive information that is useful when planning for children's first next steps in their new setting.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Staff demonstrate superb knowledge of children, their routines and their preferences. As a result, they provide excellent support for children's emotional well-being and physical needs, which facilitates their learning. There are highly effective methods for sharing information between parents and key persons, such as the use of children's individual daily diaries and communication books in rooms for staff. Children and babies demonstrate outstanding confidence and explore the spaces and resources thoroughly. This is because their attachments to key persons are highly effective in enabling them to feel secure and safe. Children in pre-school are supported to develop responsibility and independence very well. For example, through the staff encouraging them to collect and return their own outdoor clothing to their pegs. Consideration can be given to using meal times to extend this excellent aspect of learning for pre-school children. Children also participate regularly

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

in events to raise money for charities, learning very effectively about diversity and the differing needs of others.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Behaviour is excellent and children use resources safely, showing a high regard for their own safety and that of others. Resources and toys are highly accessible indoors and out, covering the breadth of the areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Consequently, there are vast opportunities for children to develop independence, as they can make decisions about what to play with. Children's welfare is exceptionally well promoted by a highly comprehensive range of policies and parental permissions, which are effectively implemented by staff. The nursery provides inspiring outdoor play experiences which give children opportunities to take reasonable risk in their play, with careful supervision. The outdoor play areas are exceptionally well equipped to encourage children to be imaginative in their play, while getting plenty of exercise. This also supports their development of communication skills as they play together. In addition, children have the

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

opportunity to take swimming lessons at a local pool. This enables children to enjoy exercise and learn about the benefits of this in a healthy lifestyle. Children aged from three years upwards participate in the off-site 'Forest School' sessions led by the owner each week. These are outstanding in supporting children to develop coordination, communication and cooperation. For example, children build dens, from sticks and leaves, for animals over the winter, after discussion about what to use and which animals might live in them.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Food is prepared on the premises and children can make choices from a healthy range of options, supporting their enjoyment of a balanced diet. This also helps them to learn about the basis for a nutritious diet, through discussion with staff. There are excellent opportunities for children to learn about growing vegetables and fruit, through the on-site allotment and children help to prepare these for cooking and eating. This also develops their fine manipulative skills. Staff are extremely skilled at building children's language skills, such as by repeating their words or phrases with extra single words. This helps children to learn gradually to speak in short sentences. Staff take care to inform children and babies gently about care routines that are required, such as nappy changes, in order to maintain their emotional well-being and dignity. They talk to children and babies during these routines, making very good use of the time to support development of

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

communication skills. Overall, the use of everyday routines by staff across the nursery make an excellent contribution to helping children in their social, communicative and physical development.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children show a very good level of self-care and can manage a variety of aspects of personal hygiene appropriate to their age and stage. For example, staff talk to children about the importance of washing their hands thoroughly after playing outside or before lunch. All areas of the nursery are exceptionally clean and well maintained to help prevent accidents or the spread of any germs. Children in pre-school can explain why some simple rules, such as not running inside the building are needed, in order to help prevent accidents. Highly robust measures are in place to help prevent accidents, such as the use of radiator covers and hinge covers on all doors. The quality manager takes several tours of the premises at set times each day in order to monitor safety in the environment. This enables managers to act on any issues she observes to maintain very high standards for children's welfare. Unauthorised access to children is prevented by use of a door release

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

system controlled by managers and also by the use of closed-circuit television on external areas of the premises. This provides excellent security for the premises.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Staff deployment is observed to be highly effective in supporting children's welfare and learning. For example, when children are playing in the outdoor area, staff are careful to spread themselves evenly across the space to ensure children are safe and well supervised. This also means that children receive a very high level of adult interaction during these times, which supports all aspects of their development. The times when children change room within the nursery are exceptionally well managed, with plenty of gradually increasing visits to support children's confidence. This is highly flexible and based on the needs of individual children, to maintain their emotional well-being. Similarly individual approaches are used when children first join the nursery to help them settle. The support for children during their transition to full-time school is excellent, with a comprehensive programme of visits arranged with most local schools. The nursery

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

requests information from any previous settings attended by children in order to inform their initial planning and also seeks detailed information from parents to supplement this.

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provision

Risk assessments and safety checks are meticulous and reviewed whenever required, for example, after accidents occur. Consequently, children can safely access a wealth of learning experiences on and off the premises. Staff have a very robust understanding of how to manage any concerns they may have about a child's welfare due to their excellent knowledge of safeguarding procedures. All adults who work on the premises are checked and vetted for their suitability for working in a childcare setting. All documentation related to statutory requirements is completed to a very high standard to support the safe and effective running of the setting. This includes a policy for the use of devices with cameras on the premises, such as mobile phones. The nursery's highly comprehensive policies and procedures underpin an outstanding level of care and learning for all children in the nursery. Staff demonstrate an exemplary understanding of how to carry out their roles

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provision

and responsibilities. This is because these are clearly defined and frequently reviewed with them and the nursery also takes highly effective measures in the event of staff underperformance. When staff are going to be on long-term leave, highly effective measures are taken to ensure that similarly well-qualified staff can take over their roles. As a result, the excellent standards of care and learning are maintained.

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provision

Procedures for recruitment and induction of new staff are highly robust. As a result, the nursery has an enthusiastic and highly-skilled staff team to maintain outstanding care and learning for children. Strength of the nursery is the long-standing management team, which provides stability and experience. The appraisal and supervision process is exceptionally rigorous, so that staff receive highly frequent information in order to enhance their practice. This includes feedback from a very well-organised system for observations on individual staff and also on the room teams. The quality of staff teaching is also monitored through continual informal observation by room managers and the quality manager on a daily basis. As a result, practice to support children's learning is outstanding throughout the nursery. There is a very strong ethos of continual professional development for staff, in order to maintain excellent standards of care and learning for

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provision

Staff plan balanced educational programmes based on the observed needs, interests and experiences of individual children. As a result, this leads to all children receiving a dynamic and challenging learning experience for their ages and stages of development. A key strength of the nursery is the use of off-site 'Forest School' sessions and outdoor activities on the premises to underpin the very broad and challenging learning experience for all children. There are multi-layered systems in place to monitor the quality and consistency of observations, planning and assessment of children's learning. The quality manager provides regular support for staff to ensure that they make precise assessments of children's progress and use these effectively when planning. The weekly planning is then monitored by managers to ensure that it meets high expectations for delivering a vibrant educational programme for all children. As a result, the opportunities for children's

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provision

learning are outstanding throughout the nursery.

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provision

The nursery works in partnership with other professionals, such as speech therapists, in order to support any children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This helps them make excellent progress from their starting points. Parents', carers' and children's views are regularly sought in order to ensure that the nursery's provision continues to meet the needs of children and families. This is through providing routes for parents to offer written feedback, but also through regular social events for families, where there are opportunities for discussion with managers.

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provision

Self-evaluation is continual and the owner and the management team strive to ensure that all aspects of the nursery's practice are exemplary. Consequently, all children make extremely rapid progress in their learning and development, due to the owners' and managers' very high drive to maintain the outstanding practice by staff.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY285293 Local authority Bolton Inspection number 914432

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 96 Number of children on roll 203 Name of provider Playdays Daycare Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 21/02/2011 Telephone number 01204 698596

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Type of provision

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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